With Gabriel Allahdua, author of Harvesting Freedom
Gabriel Allahdua discusses his deeply personal memoir Harvesting Freedom in which he takes readers behind the scenes to see what life is really like for the people who produce Canada’s food.
When Allahdua applied to the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program in Canada, he thought he would be leaving his home in St. Lucia to work in a country with a sterling human rights reputation and commitment to multiculturalism. Instead, breakneck quotas and a culture of fear dominated his four years at a mega-greenhouse in Ontario.
Now, as a leading activist in the migrant justice movement in Canada, Allahdua is fighting back against the Canadian government to demand rights and respect for temporary foreign labourers. Harvesting Freedom shows Canada’s place in the long history of slavery, colonialism, and inequality that has linked the Caribbean to the wider world for half a millennium—and the tireless determination of Caribbean people to fight for their freedom.
Born in St. Lucia, Gabriel Allahdua worked as a migrant farm worker in Ontario from 2012 to 2015 before seeking permanent residency in Canada. Now a leading voice in the migrant justice movement, Allahdua is an organizer with Justicia for Migrant Workers and an outreach worker with The Neighbourhood Organization, providing services to migrant workers across southwestern Ontario. He lives in Toronto with his two adult children and his grandson.
Borrow Harvesting Freedom from our collection
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